NewRiver Retail (NRR) is exploiting improving conditions in the regional retail market both to fill its shopping centres and to increase rents. It signed 23 new leases in the third quarter at rents 10 per cent above previous valuation estimates. The portfolio vacancy rate is now 5 per cent, down from 6 per cent in March, though still higher than a year ago.
In a sign of the times for high-street retail, the company secured planning consent to turn Regent Court, a shopping precinct in Leamington Spa, into a restaurant hub. It has reduced the centre's vacancy rate from 13.5 per cent to 4 per cent since it bought it last December. The most recent deal was with Turtle Bay, a Caribbean restaurant chain, which it signed up for 15 years at a rent of £107,000.
